Tomorrow sees the end of Dementia Awareness Week, and the end of these blogs. If I have made any of the readers a little more 'into' the life that becomes that of the PWD ( Person With Dementia) and their carer - then it has been worthwhile - but more of that tomorrow, as I still have today's blog to write...
I have a Carer's card - this alerts anyone to the fact that Malcolm is here at home, should I get knocked down by any of the infrequent buses to our village, or any other catastrophic disaster.
I accompany Malcolm to all his medical appointments, because he not longer knows what they are about.. does that make me a carer?
I can use the 'Carers' card to get into National Trust places, if I am with Malcolm.
I have a Carer's Assessment in place courtesy of Devon Carers and Social Services.
I have been asked to join the Devon Carers Board, to offer my help in their worthy work ...
My GP has suggested that there will be no quick operation on my arthritic knee, because there is no one at home to help me in recovery and I have Malcolm to look after.
DOES ALL THIS MEAN I AM A CARER? Answers on a postcard, please!!
Why do I ask?
Well, Saturday is Malcolm's day for making the early morning coffee ( in exchange for me making him breakfast in bed!) This morning I mentioned how painful my knee had been during the night, and recounted what the Doctor had said...
His reply??
" I don't know why he said that, because you are not my carer!"
Oh! So I am not, because, it seems he does not need a carer after all. So what has all this been about? Why has our world crashed about us? Why did he need life saving surgery, and as a result, his poor old brain took a bit of a beating? Why does he get Attendance Allowance? Why does he not have a driving license? Why are we having people here every day to help with his stoma care? Why are we so involved with Social Services?
What a pickle!
In his head, he does not need a carer. In his head none of the above make any sense to him. In his head, he can drive. In his head, in his head, in his head. As my Mum would say " He has a head full of 'Johnny Robins' "- never quite sure what that meant at the time - but I think I do now.
For the last two months he has been mithering me about a 'Repair Clinic' at the Village Hall - it is today, I have kept telling him it is today. It is on our reminders that it is today, yesterday he asked me if it was today.
We planned on taking the bird table for some TLC and a couple of smaller things.
The Repair Clinic has just started, and he has asked me to have a game of scrabble....... oh?
I tell him it is the much waited for Repair Clinic today - but he had completely forgotten because all that was in his mind was scrabble... do I want yet another game of scrabble? Not really, but it is good for his poor old brain, so I understand.
Me? No, I am not a carer, not at all. 😏
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